Doomtree – No Kings

The best Hip Hop artists and albums are the ones that take influence from many places. Doomtree is a collective of five rappers and two producers who are all successful solo artists in their own right and if you were to listen to each one individually, it would be very apparent that they have all cultivated their own styles. This melting pot of sounds and styles is what their latest effort No Kingsowes its brilliance to.Every song has a distinctly different feel to it. Much of this is due to the frankly god-like production on each of the tracks. Some of them rely on more traditional techniques, featuring real instruments and loops, whilst others use mostly synthesis and drum programming. But the two styles are also merged together in manys, which feature both synthesis and real instruments, with neither sounding out of place. Some of the tracks explode out of the speakers with crunchy drum samples and heavy bass lines, whilst others float out on waves of twinkling synths and guitar lines, yet because everything sounds so natural, it flows brilliantly.Lyrically the album covers a lot of ground too and with five different MCs, the perspective and delivery of the vocals in each song varies throughout. The tender delivery from Dessa and the intellectual, calculated approach of Cecil Otter and Sims contrasts brilliantly well with the confrontational, almost punk rock style of P.O.S and Mike Mictlan making the songs multifaceted and giving them much more depth than they could ever have with just one of the five.

Variety is often something many Hip Hop artists lack. It’s all well and good to tie yourself to a sound, but with such an open palette, it’s a shame that some artists feel the need to restrain their creativity. No Kings is a perfect example of how drawing influences from many places works greatly in an album’s favour. There is no repetition, yet none of the songs sound out of place.  No Kings is bold, brave and proof that people can still break new ground in an often seemingly stagnant genre.